Renaissance and Business on Alma Real

Greg Schem, a Highlands resident and managing partner of the 881 Alma Real building, said Thursday that he’s pleased about working out a five-year lease with the new Renaissance Academy Charter High School. The Palisades-headquartered school has leased 13,000 sq.ft. in the three-story commercial/professional building. Administrative offices will be located on the ground floor, with classrooms (grades 9 through 12) on the lower terrace, the same level as Fancy Feet Dance Studio, Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Studio, and Curves Fitness and Weight-Loss Center. ‘I think having a school in here is a great idea,’ Schem said. ‘The fact is, in the last few years this area has gradually transformed itself into a school-friendly neighborhood,’ referring to Seven Arrows Elementary School around the corner on La Cruz and the Village School annex currently under construction at the corner of La Cruz and Alma Real. Schem’s investment group purchased the 58,370-sq.-ft. building in foreclosure in October 2000. He said that he did not have to vacate any tenants to accommodate Renaissance and doesn’t anticipate any problems with existing tenants, the largest being the real estate firm Prudential John Aaroe on the ground floor. Two dozen other tenants in the building provide a range of medical, legal and financial services. ‘The only problem I can see us having is perhaps with security,’ said Dr. Phil Kamins, who has had his dental practice on the top floor of the building for over 10 years. The new public school, which will have its own entrance at the rear of the building, will take over the space formerly occupied by Bouquet Multimedia, a post-production company. Renovations, which include converting existing editing suites into classrooms, as well as the addition of two restrooms, will begin as soon as permits are issued by the L.A. Department of Building and Safety. ‘I am very excited about the building,’ said Paul McLaughlin, the founding director of Renaissance. ‘I always thought it had a campus feel to it. And being so close to the village, the library and the park, it is actually perfect for us. As a community school many of our classes will be held off-campus anyway, ranging from the Palisades library to Santa Monica College.’ Even though the school expects an initial enrollment of 300 students, most of them from the Palisades area, ‘not all of them will occupy the Alma Real building at the same time,’ McLaughlin said. Traffic problems in the already congested neighborhood will also be minimized ‘as the students will either be bused in or will walk to the building.’ While there will be parking for faculty, students ‘will not be allowed’ to park in the building’s underground lot. Still to be decided is whether students will be allowed off-campus at lunchtime. ‘Our primary concern is for their safety,’ McLaughlin said. According to the LAUSD, all that is required to open a public school in a commercial building, such as Alma Real, is that ‘it meet city health and safety standards,’ said Andrew Glazier, director of legislative affairs. ‘Given the lack of available classroom space in LAUSD, we have seen schools in recent years locate in church basements and in many different kinds of commercial settings that have been successfully converted for classroom use.’ Glazier added, ‘As long as the school meets the State of California education requirements, public hearings are not necessary in such situations.’ McLaughlin began exploring the Alma Real building as a potential campus through the suggestion of Palisadian David Eagle, founder of the New West Middle School. Eagle had approached Schem several years ago about locating his school in the building. Schem wasn’t interested at the time ‘but the more I thought about it,’ Schem said, ‘the more I came to see that it could be a good fit.’ New West opened last fall in a former furniture warehouse in West L.A., and plans to open a second campus on the former site of the Santa Ynez Inn on Sunset in the fall of 2005. Renaissance Academy will give the community three high schools, joining Palisades High, which has 2,650 students, and Temescal Canyon, which has about 80 students. Asked what he thought the impact the student population will have on the Alma Real building, Tom Price, who has owned Palisades Village Pharmacy on the ground floor since 2000, said: ‘I don’t know. It might get a little hectic around here but I’m willing to give it a chance.’